Emergency-knuckle for car-couplings



J. P. CARNEY.

EMERGENCY KNUCKLE FOR GAR COUPLINGS.

' APPLICATION 11.50 FEB- 1. 1920.

1379,960 Patented May 31,1921. 129.1 4

the use oftools.

E. LONG, or CHICAGO, rumors.

To allwhomz'tmag concern: I

Be it known that I, JAMES P. CARNEY,

a'citizen of United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Emergency-Knuckles for Car-Couplings, of which the following is a full, clear,- concise,- and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification. a [This invention relatesto improvements in emergencyknuckles for car couplers.

j 'Asis well known, in the operation of railway cars, the knuckles of the couplers are frequently broken and also the pin-locklng -devicesfrequentlyv get out of order thereby rendering the couplers Y inoperat ve. In :order to permit of-the cars having such broken couplers taken to their destination without setting the car aside, 1t necessary to employ some emergency devlce to eifect a temporary coupling between the cars. "Heretofore, such emergency dev ces have ineluded either chains or various types of socalled emergency knuckles. The chains are -of course generally Wholly inadequate and ,the. emergency lmuckles, vheretofore used,

havejnot proven satisfactory for the reason that'they have involved a pin-locking arm thereon'somewhat'similar to the regulation knuckle. With emergency knuckles having vpin-lockingarms, as above indicated, 1t is necessa'ryto take out certain of the interior partsofthe. coupler which requires tlme and .The object of my invention is to provide an emergency knuckle for car couplers} 'which may be "very-quickly applied to a defective coupler by merelysubstituting the emergency knuckle for the original knuckle and holding it in placeby the same knuckle pin and without'the necessity of touching any'of the interior parts of-the coupler. r

Another object'of my invention is to pro- -vide; an emergency knuckle for car couplers which not only will conform to all of'the requirements of standardized couplersas regards spacing between coupler heads and ability" to eflect; the interlocking of two couplers without the. brakem an entering betweenthe cars but'which will also be usable "with all of the diiferent'cominercial types wofrMaster Car Builders couplers which I Specification of Letters Patent. {Pa tern d M 31 192 Application filed February 7; 1920. Serial x1 56 41. I 1 v vary in certain respects not covered by. the" standardized rules. e a

In the drawing forming a part 'ofthis specification, Figure 1 is a top plan view of I.

two interlocked couplers of standardized constructlon, one of which is fitted with' a regu: lar knuckle ancl the other of which isi'itted with an emergency knuckle embodying my I invention.- The coupler having an-=emergency knuckle has part of the top jwall k 7 thereof broken away and a'portion ofthe s1de wall shown 1n section in order to more clearly illustrate my improvements. -Figt 2 is a top plan diagrammatlc view illustrating I the cooperative relation between my improvedemergency knuckle and partsof several different comme'rcial types of couplers. And; F1g.'3. 1s a side elevational viewof the improved knuckle. i I In said drawing 7 each coupler is shown as provlded wlth the usual shank l() and head 1 1,-the; latter having formedintegrally therewith the usual guard arrn l2l The leftvided with a manner by the knuckle pin 14, itbeingunderstood with an arm extended within the'coupler head which is adapted to be locked inclosed position and also released by the locking-pin 15.

The right-hand coupler, as viewed in Fig.- 1, is provided With ence A.

The improved emergency knuckle, as 1s formed with what may be termed shown,

that saidiknuckle -13 is provided .hand coupler, as viewed in Fig-'1, is 'proa regular knuckle 13' pivotally connected'tothe couplerhead' in the usual g my improved emergency knuckle lndlcated generally bythe refer a main arm 16 which; in shape and size,

conformsto the standards of the Master Car Builders Association and which is therefore adapted to interlock with a regular standard knuckle such-pas that indicatedgjat 13. *My, improved knuckle A is also ,pro-

vided with a heavy pivotrlug jl'i, of: such walls of acoupler and said pivot lug iscen- -vert1cal height that it is adapted to fitzbe- I tween the usual qspaced upper I and 51ower 1 00 trally perforated as indicated at18' torelatter a l A is'p'rovided with an outwardly and rear-. wardly extending rib, 19 which is separated a rib 19 is provided with a vertically extendagainst and co-act with the vertically extending forward in commercial types of carcouplers with respect to the sidewall and forward edge.

' the pivot V rib 19 is slightlyless than the vertical dis- 1 ever, certain parts of 911 the outer side of the pivot lug 17, that is, on the side substantially diametrically opposed to the said main arm 16, the knuckle of the pivot lugs 17 as from the main body 2; Said indicated by the recess 20 in Fig.

ing, outwardly and rearwardly inclined or beveled face 21 which is adapted to bear edge 22 of the usual side wall 23 of a coupler head. As clearly inclicated in Fig. 3,-the height of the rib 19 is slightly greater than the vertical height of lug 17 ,that is, the height of the tance'betwecn the usual upper and lower walls of a coupler head.

The regulations of the Master Car Builders Association, of course, provide for certain standard dimensions and contours on all couplers employed in railway service and all manufacturers of couplers necessarily follow these regulations. There are, howthe coupler which may be varied by the'manufacturers and'whose specific location and form are not strictly wlthin the regulations of the Master Car to the axis of the knuckle pin as indicated by the four forward edge contours 123, 223,

323and 123 shown in Fig. 2. 7

It is in order to take care of the differences thereof corresponding to that indicated at 23-22, that I provide the beveled face 21 of my emergency knuckle and this is an im "portant feature of my invention. ing'the beveled face 21 as described and By formshown, it is evident that my emergency knuckle. will always be held in the same place, with respect .to the knuckle of an op- "posing coupler or the guard arm of-the same coupler, regardless of the particular commercial type of coupler to which it is apl 1 plied." In other words, by making the conr knuckle conform to the locus of termini tourof thebearing face 21 of my emergency of the side walls of the several commercial types of couplers now on the market, I am enabledto maintain my emergency knuckle always 1 1 the sam relation with the stan ardized parts of the coupler and in this way, the railroads need only'keep on hand the one type of emergency knuckle such as I have indicated.

From the preceding description, it will be seen that my improved emergency knuckle will be held in one position and cannot be swungoutwardly and in an opening direction. The position assumed bytheflnergency knuckle is that ofa closed regulation knuckle and hence can be coupled with another coupler having, the knuckle thereof in open position without the necessity of the brakeman enterlng between the cars. Once interlocked and with the regulation knuckle 13 held in locked or closed position by its pin-locking arrangement, the two couplers act as would two uninjuredlcouplers'and are therefore enabled to maintain the proper spacing between the'cou plers and the cars and prevent disconnection of the hose as well as prevent increase of danger of injury t0 the brakeman while passing from one car 7 to another.

There are some couplers on the market which are formed with upper and lower walls of a contour and depth'differing consi'derably from most other couplers now in service and toadapt my emergency knuckle to said couplers, the emergency knuckle may be recessed or notched 'on-its upper and lower faces as indicated at 24 2 l, the notches 24: being of such depth as to bring the'bottoms thereof flush with the top and bottom surfaces of the pivot lug 17 as will be evident'from an inspection of Fig. 3.

l I claim: 7 r

1. An emergency knuckle for car couplers which conform to standardized requirements and have a wall providing a forward edge (extending vertically on the opposite side of the coupler to that of the guard arm, said knuckle having an inwardly extending main arm conforming to standardized requirements, a perforated pivot lug adapted to be inserted between the upperand lower walls of the coupler head and be pivoted thereto by a knuckle pin, anda vertically extending,

substantially outwardly and rearwardly facing surface on its outer portion arranged to bear against the said vertically extending edge of the side wall of the coupler head to thereby hold the knuckle; against opening movement and. in a predetermined position with respect to standardized parts of the coupler, the contour of said outwardly and rearwardly facing surface conforming to the locus of the vertically extending forward edges of the side walls of a plurality of'couplers differing in this respect, whereby the "emergency knuckle is interchangeably usable with couplers difie'ring as aforesaid.

2. 'As an article of manufacture, an

emergency knuckle for car couplers, said knuckle having a main arm adapted to interlock with the knuckle of a second cou- V pler, a pivot-forming lug, and a rib disposed on the opposite side of the lug to that of said main arm, said rib having a vert1- cally arranged shoulder formed to bear against the forward edge of an adjacent c0r- I respondingside wall of the coupler to which 7 forward edge on the opposite side of the Icoupler to that of the guard arm, said,

knuckle havingan inwardly extending main arm conforming to standardized require-1 ments, a perforated pivot-forming lug of lesser height thansaid main arm and adapt ed to fit between the usual upper and lower walls of the coupler head and be pivotally connected thereto by a knuckle pm, and-a vertically extending'rib on'the opposite side I of the pivot-forming lug to that of said main arm, said rib having a substantiallyireare i the contour of, which conforms to the locus termini f the side walls of a plurality of couplers differing in this respect whereby the emergency knuckle is interchangeably usable with couplers differing as aforesaid so as to insure the inwardlyextending main arm of the knuckle always assuming the same relative position with respect to the standardized parts of the coupler to which it is applied.

have hereunto subscribed my namethisi21st day of January, 1920,

Witness: fi

META SOHMIDT.-

JAMES P. OARNEYl .wardly facing, vertically extending surface, 301 of the vertically extending forward edge r r V 4o In witness thatcI claim the foregoing I 

